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I enjoyed getting around Mombasa on my own (as opposed to being overprotected by our cabdriver from Diani Beach, who wanted to drive us and hire guides for us everywhere). I had an appointment with a woman who had helped found an interfaith group as well as a Muslim human rights organization, and she told me to take a tuk-tuk to the Old Law Courts on the border of the Old City. Tuk-tuks, as Tom said, are tiny three-wheeler taxis that bounce up and off of curbs and have never seen a seat-belt. One pulled over with two women,in the back, faces and bodies clad in full black burkhas with openings only for eye slits, and the driver motioned me in. I thought the women might be uncomfortable having me with them, but they moved over immediately and the driver said he was dropping them off soon. I saw they were quite young, and one who spoke English asked me where I was from, how I liked Mombasa, and whether I had children. As we were chatting, I took off my sunglasses and she said, "You have such lovely eyes -- why do you cover them?" If I hadn't been bouncing around already I probably would have fallen off my seat.
The architecture and mosques of the Old Town are beautiful, and there was more work for me in and around Mombasa than could be done in the three days we spent there. That, the fact that the children still want to take a tuk-tuk, the beautiful beaches with monkeys running around them, and the warm Indian Ocean water -- I guess we'll just have to go back someday!
Now that we're home and using faster computers (at least sometimes) we'll try to put a few pictures up on this site. Stay tuned for the final test of the family's blogging abilities... .
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After 16 days, and a prolonged return journey encompassing 38 hours and four flights, we returned to Long Beach safe and sound last night, and zonked. We have continued to zonk today, and are pretty much sleep-walking when not sleeping.
Our last days in Mombasa were great, the highlight (for me) being what is called here a "dhow safari," which is taking a boat ride to a protected reef off the coast and snorkeling. The ocean life was vibrant, with some amazing fish and coral. We were on a fairly international boat, populated by Germans, Brits, French and others. The guides were great. After snorkeling for an hour, we returned for a lovely lunch on Wasini Island, a brief siesta and then a return to the mainland. Unfortunately, the trip ended on a bit of sour note, as our guides, who rely on tips to supplement their very meager salaries, received from some of our fellow travelers -- I kid you not -- one US dollar, or less. These guys drove the boat, led the snorkeling, including helping teach those who had never snorkeled, served drinks on the boat and were our waiters at lunch, and in every way helped make the day wonderful, and these people could not see their way clear to cough up a meaningful bit of change? I was embarrassed.
Mombasa was also quite interesting. It is a more heavily Muslim area than Nairobi, and that influence is quite clearly felt. I will let Cecelia tell you about her experience riding in a Tuk-Tuk, a small three wheel taxi, with two Muslim women in full Burkhas. The main tourist attraction is, oddly enough, Fort Jesus, which the Portuguese built when they claimed the region. There is also an old town, marked by narrow and winding streets.
We stayed at Tiwi Beach, which is south of Mombasa, and just north of the main resort area, known as Diani Beach. Coral Cove Cottages were nice, if simple, with balky hot water but a beautiful beach. And, I can now add the Indian Ocean to the list of the seven seas in which I have splashed. Quite warm, actually, and a beautiful shade of blue.
I will let the others add there own posts, and perhaps overall reflections. For now, it's back to sleep. Tom
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After four days of safari, which took us to three very different environments -- Lake Nokuru (of the pink flamingos), Maasai Mara and, yesterday, and daytrip safari to the Central Highlands -- we are on our way by overnight train to the coast. We are staying at Tiwi Beach, south of Mombasa, in what are called here "self-catered cottages.
The Central Highlands surround Mt. Kenya and are marked by incredibly fertile soil and lush vegetation. It is where the Kikuyu rebels hid and launched raids from in the war for independence from the British. You can see how it would be hard to find anything in that bush.
We may not have internet access in Mombasa, so perhaps this will be our last post.
Tom
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A safari recap…
The first place we stayed in Lake Nakuru had baboons just walking around the place…apparently it’s the norm. But the real safari adventure began in Maasai Mara. We saw families of elephants, rhinos, lions, cheetahs, gazelle and warthogs just to name a few. I do believe the words “oh, that’s only a zebra” were uttered by my dear brother. The tented camp we stayed in was beautiful. The tent Mom and I stayed in was literally right on the edge of the river. I was bitten by a mosquito and spent an entire morning freaking out that I was going to get diseased until we visited a Maasai village and our tour guides, Bernard and Edward said “No, there is no malaria now,” and then proceeded to laugh at me. After Mom interviewed them about their culture and lifestyle, they revealed that they can have multiple girlfriends or wives depending on how many cows they have. When asked how many girlfriends they both had, Edward simply said “More than one.” And Bernard said excitedly “I have three!” So Mom and I were wondering: does “more than one” mean he has many, or that he has two and he knew Bernard had three? Any thoughts?? Mom later revealed that she thought Bernard was pretty cute, and I have to say I agree.
Seeing the lions was amazing…did you know that “simba” actually means lion in Swahili?? I guess Disney got it right for once!!!
-Brigid |
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I'm not boycotting the blog, Maggie, I just haven't posted anything yet. But I will from now on, because apparently me not posting is suspicious.
So basically so far, this trip has been really fun and interesting. Except the first night we were here. I refused to sleep because I thought that if I did, a mosquito would bite me and I would get malaria and die, so I just sat there all night long.
Although I didn't get to ride an elephant (I guess dad was right about you only being able to do that in India) I did get to pet a baby elephant, anbd they are surprisingly prickly and rough. Dad failed to get a good picture of it though, so I'm still a little bitter about that.
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Duuuuuuuude!! I like went to check out elephant babies and they were ultra cuute man!! And I like went to a place where they let me pet cheetahs dudes!! At the cheetah place there were all these other ultra cute animals Dude!! And I like totally went to feed giraffes Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!!!! Then at night in the hotel there was like a blackout and I couldn’t find my underwear duude!! I mean what’s the point of dressing when you cant find your clothing Duude!!
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Cecelia here. Brigid and Aidan like to be tucked into their mosquito nets every night -- I think I freaked them out at first when I found out that nets are provided in every room and recommended by the guest-house staff, even though Nairobi is at an elevation of 5500 ft (and we haven't really seen any mosquitos yet -- knock on wood!). And every morning we go down to the eating area breakfast buffet (the walls painted with lively foliage scenes, the tin roof only partially covering it, with a big tree growing in the middle of one end of the room) and I distribute malarone, an anti-malarial drug, to each member of the family (while Aidan sings "mallll-- arone" over and over and Brigid says she's going to start calling me Mary Louise Parker). I've done a number of interviews yesterday and today, with mainline Christian, evangelical Christian, Muslim, non-denominational, and umbrella groups, while the family plays. Today we all went to Kibera, known as the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa, and Tom, Brigid, and Aidan toured some of the programs run by an NGO and visited one of the participants' homes while I did an interview. Kibera has (depending on who is counting and when) between 600,000 and 1 million people living in it. It has 13 villages (although it is very difficult for a non-resident to tell what the lines of demarcation between villages might be, since it is so crowded) and, I was told, over 500 NGOs working there. It is extremely religiously pluralist, but after 2001 the USG apparently pressured the Kenyan govt to make the Islamic NGOs leave. Lots of life. Lots of little stalls everywhere. Lots of hardship, too, of course. One person said she thought that, in contrast to one of the other big slums, there is hope in Kibera.
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Suffice to say, the past two days in Nairobi have been fascinating and illuminating. Yesterday, the kids and I started at the David Sheldrick Trust in the Nairobi National Park. The Trust was established to help baby elephants orphaned by poachers. It is open for only one hour a day, during which we got to pet the elephants (when they deigned to be petted) and to learn about how the Trust, started by Sheldrick’s wife, learned to nurse baby elephants for eventual return to the savannah.
The highlight of the day, for Brigid and Aidan, was our visit to the Nairobi walking safari, where we were invited into the cheetah enclosure to pet the cheetahs. (Yes, we have pix.) After lying docile for some time, one cheetah popped up and clearly wanted to play with Aidan. I was torn between taking a picture, or making sure he (Aidan) wasn’t eaten. You will have to look through our pix to see which motive won out. We then went to the giraffe sanctuary, where we fed the giraffes, although decided not to let them kiss us. Another nice meal at Gracia Guest House ended the day.
Today, after a lazy morning, we went to the National Museum of Kenya, which is closed for renovation, but we did get to visit the Snake Farm (oh, happy day.) We then went downtown to the Kenyatta Tower, where we went to roof and had a panoramic view of the city and surrounding area.
Oh, and we have our bag. It apparently did arrive at the airport on Sunday, but I had to go out yesterday afternoon to see if I could find it, because the tag was missing. So, thanks to all for your suggestions, but drastic measures no longer required.
Happy Birthday, Maggie!!! |
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Shall we say Cecelia got her groove back in Paris? And that we did indeed have cafe at les Deux Magots on the Left Bank? And walked the little streets to the quai and then the Louvre (where we did NOT, I'm happy to say, take the Da Vinci tour!)? And that the Mona Lisa room also has wonderful Veroneses and some Titians, and on the way there is a great Botticelli fresco? After Venus de Milo we had lunch at l'Ardoise off the rue de Rivoli, and Aidan fell asleep almost on top of his steak. The fam was understandably cranky off and on, but generally put up with me and I had a great time! The Gracia Guesthouse here in Nairobi is terrific -- Anya who suggested it is my new guru and Ben the omelet chef is Brigid's new best friend. Tom and my bag is the only one that (STILL!) has not arrived, so yesterday he bought a shirt at the YaYa center and I bought an African tie-dye skirt & top -- so nice to change clothing after three and a half days. Tom has been alternately enjoying Nairobi and getting increasingly frustrated about our bag (which we're told is arriving from Amsterdam, but each flight seems to come in without it), so we took him out for a nice Father's Day dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant last night where we ate on cow-skin covered drums and he drank Tusker, a Kenyan beer. He was much happier afterwards. We went to the Anglican cathedral for church yesterday and the sermon was on taking responsibility for HIV/AIDS, and how people should not be demonized for having it, but taking responsibility seemed to mean abstinence. So I asked the priests on my way out whether they believed all condom use was a sin. Maggie, Aidan is fine -- who knows what "diseased" means? I told him it would be fascinating to spend a day in his mind! love to all...
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Yooooooo!!!! This is Aidan speeeeeeeaaaaaaking or rather writing, but who cares!! I'm in Kenya!!!! AND I'm getting diseased!! Absolutly dashing!! And I'm famished!! And I'm tired!! And I'm.......... Shut up!! Will you shut up!!
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We arrived safe and sound yesterday morning after a prolonged journey that included a lovely 11-hour layover in Paris. While we arrived in Nairobi minus one bag (on its way from Amsterdam, we believe), the staff at Gracia Guest House greeted us warmly and sent us onto our rooms for a much-needed nap. Five hours later we woke up, went to the Ya Ya Center next door (a shopping center), stocked up on water and other supplies, and returned to Gracia for a lovely dinner and more sleep.
Our real journey begins today.
Tom
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We are about to set off on a grand adventure. Hopefully, I will be able to get this up and running so that all of us, myself, Cecelia, Brigid and Aidan (if they choose) can offer their observations on what we have experienced. This entry, as it is a test of my blogging capability (and we haven't actually arrived in Nairobi yet), is necessarily brief. So, be patient.
--Tom
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